Manchester Academy 2 FM / It Bites / Vega

21 March 2013

FM Tour Diary: Manchester Academy 2 - 21 March 2013

I woke up around 9.30am and went out to Costa on my lonesome leaving Jick to his
slumbers. It's another cold morning in Halifax but the coffee soon warms me up. We're
leaving at 12pm and I get back in plenty of time to get packed and ready for the
off. We meet in reception, load the bus, fuel up and it's next stop Manchester.

The roads are again kind to us and we arrive around 1.30pm. We're staying here tonight
which is going to make a nice change, no long after-show drive. We arrange to meet
in reception at 2.30pm. I have a hankering for some spaghetti bolognaise so I head
out and find a nice café and have just that.

With my pasta craving satiated I return to the hotel, grab my bag and meet the guys
in reception. We arrive at the venue, the gear is going up. It's a 5pm sound curfew
today so soundcheck time is a little tighter than normal. I've got Craig from Premier
coming to see me tonight . He's the man responsible for sorting out my brilliant
new drum kit.

We have a lot of VIP Pledgers coming today so before I start soundchecking the kit
I go and introduce myself to them and have a quick chat.

It's time to make some noise so I get behind the kit and start bashing things. The
soundcheck all goes fine with no issues and there's time for It Bites and Vega to
both get soundchecks too.

Time for my pre-gig shower… no shave today so the local A&E can stand down and relax.
I can hear Vega while I'm in the shower and it sounds like they're going down really
well. Good on you fellas.

Showtime is 9.30pm tonight. We're changed and ready so we navigate our way down
the strange little spiral staircase to the stage and wait for the house lights to
go down. They fade and the intro tape bursts into life. We launch into Tough Love,
it's another great turn out. The crowd are in fine voice and it's a another great
night in Manchester.

I see Craig from Premier and he's over the moon with how the kit is sounding. After
the show we congregate around the merch stand as usual, but security are wanting
the venue cleared so we adjourn to the bar downstairs for a chat with fans. I get
a chance to have a natter with John, guitarist / singer with It Bites, and he's a
lovely fella.

The bar closes and it's time to go back to the hotel but we take a detour via The
Camel One kebab shop - another FM 5-star accredited establishment. We arrive back
at the hotel, unfortunately the bar has closed so we grab a few tinnies out of the
bus for a night cap and sit in the reception. I have no idea what time I went to
bed but probably not much before 3am.